Unravel the meaning, origin, and usage of over 6,000 phrases from book and film titles, idioms and cliches, to nicknames, slogans and quotations with this modern and entertaining guide to wonderful phrases by one of the world’s best-known wordsmiths.The ideal replacement or complement to that tatty old copy of Brewer's Phrase and Fable most of us have about the house, A Word in Your Shell-Like is an entertaining look at both familiar and unfamiliar phrases by one of the key world a...

The last ever episodes of the acclaimed quotations quiz, devised and introduced by Nigel Rees - including the historic 500th showEver since 1976, Quote... Unquote chairman Nigel Rees has quizzed a host of well-known personalities on the origins of popular sayings, both familiar and obscure, and encouraged them to contribute their own quotes, anecdotes and catchphrases. But - to paraphrase Chaucer - all good things must come to an end, and with Series 57, t...

Nigel Rees presents a nostalgic and witty guide to wartime catchphrases, from the now ubiquitous 'Keep Calm and Carry On' to lesser-known gems such as 'lions led by donkeys'.Following his hugely popular survey of domestic sayings, More Tea Vicar?, Rees returns with a witty and fascinating examination of the catchphrases that saw us through wartime Britain and are still relevant in times of crisis today.Including domestic phrases of the time, propaganda, and slang d...

This exclusive compilation was first published to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 'Quote, Unquote'. It takes a fond look a the show in which celebrity guests are quizzed about quotations, famous and obscure, and invited to contribute their own quotes and anecdotes. From identifying Shakespearean dialogue, attributing witty last words and putting names to famous one-liners, panellists go on to discuss everything that could possibly fall between two quotation marks, from eavesdropping ...

The complete series of the vintage BBC Radio variety showRadio legends Kenneth Williams (Beyond Our Ken, Hancock’s Half Hour) and Ted Ray (Ray’s a Laugh) join forces for this quickfire mix of characters, songs and sketches, first broadcast on Radio 2 in 1974. Accompanied by Quote… Unquote’s Nigel Rees and veteran actress/comedian Miriam Margolyes, they cross their comedy ...

Now available together for the first time are all six episodes from the first series of classic comedy from David Renwick (who went on to write One Foot in the Grave), Andrew Marshall (who later wrote 2point4 Children) – and Eric Pode (of Croydon). Includes: 'Peel Bananas The Burkiss Way’, in which you can learn the best techniques for peeling bananas and how to get people off lightly; 'Pass Examinations The Burkiss Way’, which teaches you how to astound your friends by a...

‘As gripping as any spy thriller, Hastings’s achievement is especially impressive, for he has produced the best single volume yet written on the subject’ Sunday Times‘Authoritative, exciting and notably well written’ Daily Telegraph‘A serious work of rigourous and comprehensive history … royally entertaining and readable’ Mail on SundayIn ‘The Secret War’, Max Hastings examines the espionage and intelligence machines of all sides in World War II, and the impact of s...

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERA SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, ECONOMIST, DAILY TELEGRAPH, EVENING STANDARD, OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR'Undoubtedly the best single-volume life of Churchill ever written' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday TimesA magnificently fresh and unexpected biography of Churchill, by one of Britain's most acclaimed historiansWinston Churchill towers over every other figu...

The real story of how Winston Churchill and the British mastered deception to defeat the Nazis - by conning the Kaiser, hoaxing Hitler and using brains to outwit brawn.By June 1940, most of Europe had fallen to the Nazis and Britain stood alone. So, with Winston Churchill in charge the British bluffed their way out of trouble, drawing on the trickery which had helped them win the First World War. They broadcast outrageous British propaganda on pretend German radio stations, broke G...

Agent Zigzag:One December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort. His name was Eddie Chapman, but he would shortly become MI5's Agent Zigzag. Dashing and louche, courageous and unpredictable, inside the traitor was a hero, inside the villain, a man of conscience: the problem for Chapman, his many lovers and his spymasters, was knowing where one ended and the other began. Ben Macintyre weaves toget...

In this book you will find the best of that wit - ripe plums of humour taken from Churchill's parliamentary replies and ripostes, prepared addresses, asides and off-the-cuff remarks - all revealing a trenchant sharpness of mind, fine appreciation of humour and devastating sense of fun.

‘Rigorously researched, yet reads like a novel you can’t put down’ LUCY WORSLEY‘Joshua Levine is a fantastic and passionate individual. I highly recommend him for the breadth of knowledge he has’ STEVE Mc****QUEENThe Blitz is one of the most iconic and tumultuous periods in modern British history – and one of the most misunderstood.From the first page, readers will discover a different story to the one they thought ...